Hello dear readers,
If you read My Jane Austen Roadtrip Chapter IV post from last week, where I talked about my visit to Winchester, you know that two weeks ago I embarked on a most anticipated road trip across England. What I didn’t mention yet is that during this visit I discovered what would become my favourite place in the entire world, Lyme Park 🙂

Today I will tell you all about that part of my trip and share lots and lots of pictures.

I had been talking about visiting Lyme Park for ages, and even if Joana Starnes kept tempting me to go, and I would dearly love to visit it for the first time with her, I ended up visiting it with a very unexpected and international company! Because of the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death I discovered that author Lory Lilian was planning to visit the UK, one thing lead to the other and we decided to embark on a marvelous road trip together!

I landed in Manchester, and even if I dearly loved to visit Elizabeth Gaskell’s House, it wasn’t possible because of the opening hours, so I decided to leave Milton eh..Manchester for another time and got on a train headed to Stockport. That’s where I met for the first time Lory Lilian, her editor Ellen Pickels, and author Andreea Catana 🙂

One would think we would be embarrassed by meeting new people in a foreign land, but we are all janeites, so obviously that didn’t happen 🙂 We had a nice dinner, chatted, and planned the following day that would start in Pemberley!!! (I’m sorry, but for me Lyme Park will always be Pemberley and there is no other Pemberley than Lyme Park).

So the following morning saw us getting through the gates of Lyme Park in a very hysterical state! I would post the videos that prove how excited we were to be there, but I’m not sure the other ladies would ever forgive me 😉

Mira Magdo from Obsessed with Mr. Darcy joined us at the entrance and was the most magnificent guide we could have. She lead us through the gate that Mr. Darcy ran thought to prevent Elizabeth from leaving Pemberley, and patiently waited for us to take a thousand pictures from every possible angle, explained everything she knew about the place and took us to all relevant filming locations (she is a bit of na expert in it).

Visiting Lyme Park was a dream come true to me. It was the place I most wanted to visit and it did not disappoint. It is perfect in every possible way. I was expecting it to be glorious, beautiful, magnificent, but I never expected it to be so cozy and warm, especially, I never expected to feel so well there, so at peace. I felt I had come home (jokes about being the mistress of Pemberley aside).

There really aren’t enough words to explain how much I loved this place and people say a picture is better than a thousand words, so I won’t spend much time describing how marvelous our days in the North were, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves 🙂

My perspective…

What I wish I could see..

As you can see, my perspective of the house, followed by what I wish I could see…Mr. Darcy riding towards me…and yes, it’s hard to tell, but that is Colin Firth 🙂

I know this is not the main view of the house, but entering the property and seeing this entrance where Elizabeth introduced the Gardiners to Mr. Darcy was the perfect first impression of the house 🙂 I stood there and looked at it for God knows how long…

But as you can imagine, the best was yet to come…Getting inside was truly a dream come true! If I stood a long time outside looking at the façade, imagine how long I stayed here trying to get the perfect picture and imagining Colin Firth eh..Mr. Darcy coming down those stairs in pursuit of Miss Elizabeth Bennet…You don’t remember that scene? Well, here it is:

How cool is it to be in this place?? And by the way, there is no way he could have gone to the house and get dressed without her leaving the house. It would take her only 3 minutes to go from the place she saw him in his wet shirt to where the carriage was, but hey, we’re glad he did 🙂

Now, I know the interior scenes of the 1995 BBC production were filmed at Sudbury Hall (that I missed because TAP cancelled my flight without even telling me about it because they didn’t have a plain….that’ts rigth…they didn’t have a plain and made me lose 10h of my day in the airport), but still, the interiors at Lyme Park were gorgeous and I could only imagine myself living there! Take a look at those windows on the library…I would spend my days sitting there and reading…and ocasionally looking at Mr. Darcy in his desk 🙂

But the place with the biggest impact on us was Mr. Darcy’s balcony! You see, this balcony is not usually open, but this day it was, so we got a chance to step in and see the marvelous view from the house. It is stunning and so inspiring…I’m sure both Andreea and Lory will get my point, right ladies? We want more stories…

And do you see that gravel path behind me and Mira? Well…we’ll get there in due time 🙂

Before heading out, we decided to do something fun, and by fun I mean dress in regency clothes. It was our first time, so Mira who is now very used to this, helped us put the bonnets on, found us matching reticules etc, did I mention she was the best guide possible?

And when we did get out to walk in the gardens, we met Mira’s friends who were also visiting Pemberley 🙂 Now that we are acquainted I hope I can see them while attending a ball in the future 🙂

Remember I was talking about the gravel path? Well, this is me with a huge smile on my face because I was actually walking in the same place where Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy walked when they met at Pemberley!!

If I made it this far without swooning, I think I’ll be able to handle the pond, don’t you think?

I could stay in that place the entire day just looking at the house. It really is magnificent and peaceful, but the pond awaited me and I think that at this point Mira and Andreea were getting tired of me taking so many pictures…I hope you’re not tired of seeing them because I still have a few others to show you 🙂

On our way to the pond we found a place where I believe Elizabeth Bennet would stop to get some rest and read, so I couldn’t resist taking a picture 🙂

The truth is that it is not only the house that is beautiful, peaceful and that made me feel good, the entire property had that effect in me, and I wanted to show you a little of the grounds as well 🙂 Don’t you think the landscape is perfect? Anyway, we made it to the famous pond, and OMG…

Colin Firth didn’t really dive in it, but this was an iconic place and I would not have found it without Mira, so thank you again my friend!!! Oh…and if you look at my picture and the one where Mr. Darcy is taking his jacket off, you can see the trees are the same (huge grin on my face right now).

Too much wet shirt pics? Well… I couldn’t resist 🙂

Finally after all the excitement of seeing all these, and many other places, for the first time, me and Mira met author Amanda Grange who was the second JAFF author I ever read back in 2011. I took my copies of Mr. Darcy’s Diary, Captain Wentworth’s Diary and Mr. Knightley’s Diary all the way from Portugal for her to sign and came back with those, plus another signed copy of Mr. Darcy’s Diary to giveaway to one of my readers 🙂 After all, I couldn’t have so much fun without sharing a little with you 🙂 It was a true pleasure meeting Amanda Grange as she wrote some of my favourite JAFF books and I was only sorry that our day at Pemberley was coming to an end, and that I didn’t have a copy of Colonel Brandon’s Diary.

But the fact that we had to leave Lyme Park didn’t mean that our day was about to end, by the contrary. At Stockport we got a chance to meet and have dinner with the lovely Glynis!!! I have to say this was definitely one of the highlights of the day 🙂 It was so, so, so nice meeting Glynis with whom I had only talked online 🙂 I met her in my blog and when I saw her face to face I felt we were already long time friends 🙂

She is a such a kind and nice lady! I am only sorry we only had a few hours together, but I know I will be seeing her the next time I visit Lyme Park, she is a neighbour after all 🙂 Lucky girl…

The following day we could not resist and returned to Lyme Park to visit the grounds once more, and enjoy the views without all the excitement of the first day. It was amazing, for sure, but our emotions were a train wreck and we wanted to re-visit all those wonderful places in Lyme Park for the pleasure of walking in those beautiful places and not because of Pride & Prejudice.

We saw some places we missed in the first day and went a little further on our walks (we were on Elizabeth Benet mode).

It was really nice to walk with Andreea in the grounds on that glorious sunny day and discuss her upcoming P&P variation Meant to Be.

I did mention we were on Elizabeth Bennet mode, didn’t I? Of course we had to walk exactly in the same places she walked, and obviously we were thinking exactly the same thing she was…Of all this I could have been mistress…

And so our visit ended with no Mr. Darcy to stop us from leaving… But Lyme Park came in my heart all the way back to Portugal. It really is a wonderful place with which I connected immediately. I usually only feel this good in Paris. I don’t really know why, but I always feel well and at peace in Paris, and in Lyme Park I felt exactly the same. I know I will go back one day because it really became my favourite place on earth. I feel I am supposed to be there.

We started our journey back south, but first we made a stop in Derbyshire to visit Chatsworth House. After all, it was Pemberley day!

I am clearly a 95 adaptation girl, and Lyme park will always be Pemberley to me, but I confess that when we were arriving at Chatsworth I could hear Jane Austen’s words in my mind “the eye was instantly caught by Pemberley House, situated on the opposite side of a valley , into which the road with some abruptness wound. It was a large, handsome stone building, standing well on rising ground, and backed by a ridge of high woody hills; and in front, a stream of some natural importance was swelled into greater, but without any artificial appearance. Its banks were neither formal nor falsely adorned” and just like Elizabeth I “had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste”.

The grounds were also incredibly beautiful but not as peaceful and cozy as in Lyme Park, and even if I did like visiting this place, I didn’t feel so good in it. It was just another beautiful place to me, but I guess I am partial to Lyme Park.

However, the entire place was impressive, even the stables were huge!! We had some lunch in the old stables and drove to Winchester leaving Derbyshire and both Pemberley’s behind us…

And this was the end of Chapter V. I hope you liked seeing all these photos and to have a Chapter VI to share with you soon, until then, it is giveaway time!

I had so much fun during those 3 days that I felt I had to share some of my joy with my readers, so today I am offering 3 paperbacks to 3 different readers :

The giveaway is international and will end on the 10th of August. I will randomly select two readers from the comments left on this post and one from my list of followers, so if you want to double your chances of winning, and you are not yet following From Pemberley to Milton, just click on the follow button on the bottom of the home page.

Rita, what a fabulous post. Your photos are awesome and I so appreciate seeing the stills from the movie so we could see the angle. Wow!! I am simply bowled over. How delightful. Thank you so much for sharing with us.

I really hope you make it Nicole! And I hope to be there with you 🙂
I’m sure this place is inspiring to authors! It inspired me and I’m not even a writer… I imagine what it can do to a creative mind :)))

Your love and excitement shine through this post along with all the photos! Thank you so much for sharing your Jane Austen Road trip with us. To get to meet all the authors you did and then Glynis must have added so much more to the whole adventure! Thank you!

Another wonderful account of your time in England, Rita! I loved reading it! I think that when I visit those places myself I will do the same thing, picture myself in the book and etc. Although my favorite Pemberley is Chatsworth (I’m a 2005 fan :D, even though I love the miniseries too). Thank you for the giveaway! 😉

Wow, what an adventure to remember! I hope to visit the U.K. some day, but until then, getting a chance to read posts like these and admire all the photos is great. Thanks for sharing and for the fantastic giveaway.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments Rita.😘 I couldn’t believe my luck getting to meet and have dinner with you and Lory after ‘speaking’ online. It was also a great pleasure to meet Ellen and Andreea.
I am so glad you had such a wonderful time at Lyme Park and that the weather was kind. It’s a glorious place anyway but totally enhanced by the sunshine. Hopefully next time you come we will be able to enjoy it together.
As you know I didn’t want to bombard Lory with all my copies of her books to sign and was delighted with the two I did take. However I would love to win a signed copy of The Perfect Match.
I have a paperback copy of Mr Darcy’s Diary but a signed copy would be even better so thank you for the giveaways.
Until next time …….😊😊😊

Thank you so much for sharing the narrative of your tour of Lyme Park along with the fabulous photos I hope to travel to the UK one day and visit these fabulous places. Thank you for the wonderful give away.

Rita,
You’ve been to Pemberley,
walked in Lizzy’s footsteps,
saw all that made our beloved Mr Darcy so immensely proud,
were lucky enough to share this delightful experience with fellow janeites,
faithful friends who share your love of Austen and
you took pictures that you will treasure forever!!! 😉

Wow!!! I’m so thrilled that you and your friends had such a wonderful time there. Clearly it’s a very special place,one that you felt at home in,one that filled you with peace and happiness,a place that you hold dear!!

Thank you so much for sharing your photos,we’re there with you taking every step,admiring the gardens and picturing a handsome,proud and hunky man making haste to welcome your party to his home,after he’s changed into dry clothes,that is!!! 😉

“One would think we would be embarrassed by meeting new people in a foreign land, but we are all janeites, so obviously that didn’t happen 🙂” – I love that sentence and though I haven’t yet met many of my Janeite friends face-to-face, I don’t think any of us could be embarrassed by a first meeting. After all, we’re united in our great love for the works of Jane Austen herself and those who have taken up their pens to keep the love flowing.

If my personal and work schedule had allowed me to join you all, I’d have been there in a heartbeat (or around two hours by car) but I’ve got my fingers crossed for the next time you’re over here, Rita! In the mean time, thanks so much for sharing all of your wonderful photos with us and for the comparison shots with 1995. You were quite right in posting so many of yours. The smiles on all of your faces tell their own story.

Oops, hit the “post comment” button on my screen by mistake just then! I wanted to add that Darcy’s Diary was amongst the very first JAFF books I came across (right after Pamela Aidan’s trilogy and before I even knew that JAFF existed as a genre) so I have quite a soft spot for it, but only have it as an audiobook. The Perefct Match is, I think, the only one of Lory’s books I don’t have (would have to check the catacombs of my Kindle to be sure!) so if I was one of the lucky ones, either would be an amazing prize. Thanks for such a wonderful giveaway.

Congratulations on your two years and thanks so , so much for sharing your awesome pictures. I love to see shots of the UK and especially JAFF sisters enjoying their time together. Here’s to another great year! Jen Red

I am so happy for you! Getting to go places we dream of and finding that our soul belongs there is amazing ❤
And in such good company too!
Next Janeite-meet, I wanna go too :p (seriously)
Cannot wait for your next adventures!

Lyme Park/1995 film version is also my idea of P&P in the movies. Love the photographs. I’ll never get there but so enjoy visiting through your eyes and seeing photos of others I know from books and blogs. Thank you ever so much for sharing.

Thank you for the Giveaway and sharing about your trip and all those pictures. It looked like a lot of fun.

I haven’t read The Perfect Match by Lory Lilian yet but I love Mr. Darcy’s Diary by Amanda Grange and have a copy although I would like a signed copy so I would like to enter either of the signed books in the giveaway but if I win the non signed edition draw another winner instead so someone who doesn’t already own it or hasn’t read it gets a chance.

Still catching up with the posts I’ve missed while we were away. This is so wonderful, Rita! All those photos of that magical place, and lovely people getting together and how drop dead gorgeous you looked in Regency attire!! You do realise that now I’ll keep nagging you to dress up for the Bath promenade one year, right 😉 ? You look like you were meant to wear those beautiful things, and that you totally belong there!!

I’m so sorry I didn’t get to be there on your first visit to Pemberley, but I’ve GOT to be there for your next! Hope it’s not too long in coming. Hugs and see you soon!